What you need to know about drug and alcohol training

Many companies, regardless of the industry, are in need to control drug and alcohol use in their workplaces to reduce the risks and create a safer work environment. Remember that even if there is no drug and alcohol testing program in your workplace, training can promote awareness among your employees and proactively assists you to reduce accidents on the job. With employee training courses, you can give your employees the right tools to create a safer workplace. Your business can also become more productive when you control substance abuse in your company. 

A good course can train employees, supervisors, and managers with how to be accountable when it comes to drug use. Supervisors and managers can also find suitable ways of implementing the right program, provide the tools and methods to properly conduct reasonable cause testing, and identify the signs of drug or alcohol use. This page discusses what you need to know about drug and alcohol training. 

A drug and alcohol training program

A good drug and alcohol training program can lead to accurate and defensible results. This is also part of an effective safety and health program. The right training of employees, supervisors, and managers of drug and alcohol programs ensure that they can successfully implement and manage. You should note that health and safety of workers should be something every employer needs to accomplish. 

And, employee training is also necessary in a company. You need to have employee awareness training for all workers who are subject to drug or alcohol testing in accordance with your workplace drug and alcohol policy. Such training programs offer awareness and education on policy associated with drug or alcohol, the way drug and alcohol testing is done, and the support given following a non-negative drug result. Employees can also learn the health effects of drug or alcohol use and abuse. 

There are several ways you can educate your employees within your workplace. This includes online training and classroom training. Classroom training can be done by an instructor who may go through all the learning modules with the employees. This is an interactive form of learning experience because employees can ask questions to better understand the content. 

On the other hand, online training requires employees to do it themselves, meaning they can do the training at their pace. The content is provided, but it’s up to the employee to read and complete the available modules on their own. The good thing is that there is always support, though responses may take longer than when you are in a classroom setting. 

The advantages of drug and alcohol training

No doubt, toxic work environments can sometimes increase drug and alcohol abuse among employees. Supervisors and managers need to be more effective when it comes to enforcing a drug-free workplace policy. In most cases, there is usually a correlation between alcohol and drug use and a company’s environment in the workplace.  

Ideally, when a working environment is less stressful, the employees tend to be happier. Therefore, they may not turn to illicit drugs or alcohol use. But with more toxic work cultures, employees are usually less happy and can turn to drugs or alcohol as coping mechanisms. Because of this, managers need to spot the signs of addiction, identify the workplace stressors, promote positive behavior and habits, and reduce workplace risks and discourage unhealthy habits. 

Drug and alcohol training programs can also help supervisors and managers to understand what is involved in 5 panel drug test. A 5 panel drug test is considered to be a standard that makes sure that employees in safety-sensitive roles are fit for duty for many years.

A 5 panel drug test monitors 5 illicit substances in employees. With many employees now using prescription drugs, it’s a growing concern for employers to make sure that a person accessing the workplace is not under the influence of these substances. The use of non-prescription drugs is quite common in workplaces. Therefore, employers need to ensure that there is a standard panel test so that they have a comprehensive screening process.

Based on this, you can see that it’s crucial to have a 5 panel drug test. This is because this test can detect substances of abuse and is accepted by the United States DOT. Even better, if a test shows that there are drug substances, there is a good chance that there may be a case of substance abuse instead of using prescription medication for medical reasons. The good thing is that a test that shows the presence of a drug can always be reviewed by the Medical Review Officer before they confirm the status of an outcome. 

It’s usually a good idea to invest in drug and alcohol training for your employees including supervisors and managers. But the drug policy for your company can be strong depending on the people responsible with enforcing it. Keep in mind that even the best written drug and alcohol policy cannot be significant when you leave it in the hands of those who don’t know how to handle it. The truth is that it’s just as bad as having no drug-free policy at all.  

Your supervisors and managers can be good in their respective roles, but they may not be experts when it comes to illicit drugs. Therefore, it can be your responsibility in making sure that you maintain a healthy and safe work environment. Also, you must not assign this responsibility to a person who is not well-trained. It can be hard for them to combine their regular work with this responsibility. Managers and supervisors need regular drug and alcohol training so that they can maintain a safe work environment. 

You can find many alcohol and drug training providers on the market. You just need to choose the right one that provides a suitable training program for your employees. It’s also crucial to opt for accredited training courses. This is especially true if you want your employees in safety-sensitive roles to attend these training courses. There are various training courses that your employees can attend regardless of whether they desire to do it online or in a classroom setting.